


We Like the Reason Why

by AAvery



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Eventual Smut, I'm really not sure what this'll end up being, M/M, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Space and Aliens, but I just wanna put something out there xD, futuristic setting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:46:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26383594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AAvery/pseuds/AAvery
Summary: There was something off about the… thing standing in front of Hongjoong, something deeply unnerving. Hongjoong was sure it hadn’t blinked in the entire thirty minutes this meeting had gone on for. It just stood there, perfectly still, with perfect posture and a calm, confident demeanor. There wasn’t an emotion or hint of an expression anywhere to be seen on its face.Hongjoong’s eyes flitted between his superior and whatever that thing he brought with him was. As far as Hongjoong could tell, it looked human.  Its hair was black and styled with a shaved side and a long curtain of bangs covering its left eye. Its large brown eyes were emotionless, staring straight ahead unblinking. It stood at attention, hands clasped behind his back and feet shoulder-width apart. It was dressed like every other officer of its supposed rank: a long, dark charcoal coat that reached just above its knee. Its silver embroidered sash was highly decorated in medals and high honors. The thing even had three stars sewn onto his jacket as well… a rank three guardian? Now Hongjoong was even more curious as to how he’d never heard of it before now.“This is your new partner.”
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Kang Yeosang, Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 12
Kudos: 81





	We Like the Reason Why

There was something off about the… thing standing in front of Hongjoong, something deeply unnerving. Hongjoong was sure it hadn’t blinked in the entire thirty minutes this meeting had gone on for. It just stood there, perfectly still, with perfect posture and a calm, confident demeanor. There wasn’t an emotion or hint of an expression anywhere to be seen on its face.

“Now that your debriefing is complete, we can get onto the real reason we’re meeting in person today,” Hongjoong’s commander in chief told him. The Commander gestured vaguely to the thing standing next to the table the two of them were seated at. Hongjoong’s eyes flitted between his superior and whatever that thing he brought with him was. As far as Hongjoong could tell, it looked human. It was tall and thin but muscular and well filled out. Its hair was black and styled with a shaved side and a long curtain of bangs covering its left eye. Its large brown eyes were emotionless, staring straight ahead unblinking. Its face was handsome, almost unnervingly so. It stood at attention, hands clasped behind his back and feet shoulder-width apart. It was dressed like every other officer of its supposed rank: a long, dark charcoal coat that reached just above its knee. Its silver embroidered sash was highly decorated in medals and high honors. Hongjoong wondered how the thing had gained such awards without him ever hearing about it. The thing even had three stars sewn onto his jacket as well… a rank three guardian? Now Hongjoong was even more curious as to how he’d never heard of it before now.

“This is your new partner.”

Hongjoong couldn’t hold back the snort of laughter that escaped through his nose. The thing didn’t even flinch, continuing to stare straight ahead. His commander; however, looked less than impressed with Hongjoong’s unfiltered reaction.

“My new partner?” Hongjoong asked. “You’re joking, right? When have I ever needed a partner?”

“Captain, I understand your skepticism, but this is in no way a punishment. In actuality, I would consider it a reward. It should, theoretically, make your job a lot easier,” the Commander explained. Hongjoong leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms and quirking an eyebrow.

“Alright, I’m listening,” Hongjoong agreed. “What is… he? It is a he, isn’t it?”

“Technically, yes,” the Commander agreed. “It’s technically human as well, though we’ve engineered it to be better in every possible way. This is prototype 2708, our first completely successful artificially intelligent meta-human.”

“You need to find a catchier name.”

“You can name it whatever you want if it makes things easier, but it will answer to “Guardian” or just simply 2-7-0-8.” He continued to explain: “We’ve been developing these completely organic AIs for quite some time, but none so far have been able to function as efficiently as this one. The rest of your team will also be receiving meta-human prototypes, but they have… a few bugs, I suppose is the best way to phrase it.”

“Why me and my team?”

“Because we have faith that a team as highly specialized and effective as yours will take good care of this new technology. We want to see how these AIs interact with natural-born humans before we begin to integrate them into our forces.”

“I see…” Hongjoong trailed. “This sounds doable.”

“I’m glad you agree. Now, Lieutenant Jung under your command will be receiving prototype 1576, our first sentient AI that survived past trial runs,” the Commander said, placing a file folder in front of Hongjoong with the numbers 1576 written on the tab. “The AI’s test scores are average compared to natural-born humans; however, its commonsense scores are severely lacking, and its been known to have a rather clingy personality. Despite all that, we believe it could make a great guardian with the correct partner.”

Hongjoong wasn’t sure giving a highly impressionable AI to Wooyoung of all people was such a good idea, but he wasn’t about to get into an argument with his superior about it. He instead opened the folder he had been given. A picture of the supposed AI greeted him. It was cute, Hongjoong noticed first, smiling brightly at whoever had been taking his picture at the time as he showed off a brightly colored stuffed animal of sorts. Hongjoong glanced over at his new AI partner, wondering how the two could have been developed through the same base processes. Their demeanors couldn’t have been more different.

He flipped through the rest of the report, seeing that its test scores across all subjects were exactly average, his physical scores only minutely above average and his commonsense severely below just as the Commander had said. Hongjoong also noticed a bug report attached to the end. Looking over the two-page long list… Oh boy, did Wooyoung have his work cut out for him…

“Lieutenant Choi will be assigned to prototype 1994. That one is much less buggy and much smarter than its predecessors, but we have taken note that it doesn’t deal with people very well. When confronted with strangers or ever other AIs, it tends to shut down more often than not. Effectively experiencing the equivalent of a panic attack.”

Hongjoong took the next folder the Commander handed him. The picture he was met with this time was much more in line with what the AI standing across the table looked like: a serious demeanor without any emotion to be seen on his face. Only this one was even more unnervingly attractive. Not quite in the same way the one with Hongjoong was, this one was a lot more on the pretty side. The picture became even more unreal when he moved on to looking at its logic scores. They were way above average, definitely above Hongjoong’s own assessment scores. Its physical skills were surprisingly well above average for something so delicate looking and, like the Commander, had said, his social skills were way below. There were also a few listed bugs but Hongjoong was sure Jongho would have no issues handling this new challenge.

“Prototype 2691 will be assigned to Lieutenant Song. This AI was our best working one up until prototype 2708 proved successful. It still occasionally has slips in protocol, however.”

Another folder, another picture. This one wore a small smile, however, instead of a dead-serious expression. It looked a lot more approachable as well; though, the size listed under attributes was a little deterring. It’s a good thing this one was going to Mingi out of all of them. The bug list for this one was very short, with only a few entries listed and his scores across all categories were phenomenal. Hongjoong didn’t know it was even possible to score that high.

“And so, that leaves us with your assignment,” the Commander began again. “Prototype 2708, our best creation yet. No reported bugs, follows orders exactly, and his scores are exceedingly perfect.”

Hongjoong flipped open the folder. The picture he saw here was exactly the same as what stood across from him now. Then, he saw the scores. Or to better explain… He _couldn’t_ see the AIs scores. They were literally off the given chart in every category. Hongjoong blinked a couple of times, rubbed his eyes even to make sure what he was seeing was correct. He chanced another glance at the thing that was his new partner. It still hadn’t moved; Hongjoong would bet money that it still hadn’t blinked either. How terrifying.

“So what exactly are they?” Hongjoong asked, trying to better understand the situation he was now in.

“Well, as I said, they’re technically human. But as you’re probably aware, we’ve only recently figured out how to perfectly mimic a human brain synthetically. That’s why there have been so many failed prototypes and why only out of almost three thousand trials there are only four in working order.”

“But you’ve obviously messed with their brains, right? There’s no way a normal human could ever be capable of these scores,” Hongjoong continued to probe, gesturing to his prototype’s folder.

“Well of course. They’ve all been engineered in the same way but to varying degrees of success obviously. We wired them to be exceptionally smart, but there were also less obvious changes made, too. First, they have no need for sleep. They can but it’s not necessary, and they do not feel obligated to rest. Their emotional centers have been altered so that they’re supposed to feel nothing but a few bugs in their systems have caused this specific feature to be hard to control. But we know for certain that they do not feel any fear and their pain thresholds have been basically raised to infinity, meaning that they feel no pain and if they do, they can withstand anything. We’ve also turned off any defense mechanisms that human brains have to keep the body from hurting itself. This way they can go above and beyond normal human limitations even if it means tearing themselves apart in the process. To combat that slight issue, however, we’ve altered their genetics so that the healing process is almost ten thousand times faster. What would take natural-born humans weeks to heal, only requires a few minutes for them, seconds even in certain scenarios.”

“And I take it they’re entirely loyal?”

“They know nothing else besides following orders. This is why we’re interested to see what happens when they work side by side with natural humans.”

“So you just want us to go about our jobs? But with them following?” Hongjoong asked.

“Exactly. As I said, this new assignment is more of a reward than a punishment. Everything I’ve described works exactly the way it should with the AI you’ve been assigned. You’ll probably find that your assignments will be significantly easier and finished in a more timely manner.”

Hongjoong wasn’t exactly sure how to take this all in. Looking over at the AI once more, he regarded it carefully. It definitely looked like a normal human being, but everything in its report suggested it was anything but.

Suddenly and without any prompting, the AI’s eyes flitted over to Hongjoong, meeting his gaze without blinking. Hongjoong nearly jumped out of his chair in fright at the sudden movement. The man’s gaze was intense, full of calculated intelligence yet still with no emotion… perhaps it was Hongjoong and not Wooyoung who had actually drawn the short straw here…

“Prototype 2708,” the Commander said then, addressing the AI. “This is Captain Kim Hongjoong, your new partner. You are to follow his orders from here on out.”

“Yes sir,” the AI responded immediately with a deep voice. Its eyes did not leave Hongjoong’s as it spoke, continuing to hold his gaze. Hongjoong was torn between averting his eyes and keeping eye contact, wholly unsure of how to continue.

“Well then, I’ll leave you to it,” the Commander said standing up. Hongjoong followed suit, only now breaking the staring contest with his new partner. They all bowed to each other before the Commander began to leave the room. “Good luck out there, Captain. Your ship leaves in 0200 hours.”

“Yes sir,” Hongjoong agreed at the exact moment his AI did. Then, the Commander was gone and the two of them were left alone. When the AI turned to look at Hongjoong once again, his breath caught in his throat with a feeling he was unsure of. This… thing was wholly unnerving. It was going to take quite some getting used to.

“So as he said, I’m Captain Kim Hongjoong, but if we’re going to work together, you can just call me Hongjoong,” he started, hiding his discomfort and fear behind professionalism. He figured that was his best angle for now.

“That would be unbefitting of me as someone of a lower rank,” the AI responded. Hongjoong had a feeling it was going to say that.

“Alright, but don’t say I didn’t tell you otherwise,” he sighed in response. “What should I call you?”

“I am Lieutenant 2708 under Captain Kim Hongjoong’s command,” the man responded as if reading from a script. Hongjoong had expected that as well.

“No, I meant an actual name,” he started. The AI actually cocked its head in response, but it didn’t look confused. Maybe it was just waiting for more information. “You’re a person, aren’t you?”

“Technically yes.”

“Well then _technically_ you need a name and not just numbers.”

“Then you may call me whatever you wish.”

“No, it’s your name. Surely you’ve heard a name you like.”

Now the AI looked confused, but it came off more as a bad actor trying to pretend to be confused. Its eyebrows knotted together and a frown on its face. It was almost cute that it was a genuine reaction. Hongjoong could practically see the error codes going off in its programming.

“You are letting me decide?”

“Yeah,” Hongjoong nodded. “Let me know when you decide. Until then, we’ve got a ship to prepare for launch.”

Hongjoong began to make for the exit of the conference room. The AI, however, made no move to leave, staring at the floor with that ridiculous confused expression.

“Seonghwa,” it said suddenly.

“What was that?” Hongjoong asked, halting his movements and turning to look back at the AI.

“My name… I want it to be Seonghwa. Park Seonghwa.”

Hongjoong smiled. The confused look was no longer on the AI’s face, but it cocked its head again at Hongjoong upon receiving the smile.

“Well then. It’s nice to meet you Lieutenant Park Seonghwa,” he said.

“Likewise,” the newly named Seonghwa agreed. He bowed deeply: “I look forward to working with you. Please take care of me, Captain.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I appreciate all of you!! 
> 
> Lemme know if you liked this cuz I'm not sure what to do with it as of right now. I just wanted to post something after being radio silent for so long. SOOOOO lemme know!! 
> 
> Follow me on Twitter! @AAvery151  
> Follow my Beta, and talented artist! @GoodLilSeth 
> 
> Thanks again!


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